DayZ Will Introduce Predators Soon, Watch The Video

Bohemia Interactive's DayZ may seem like it's stuck in Early Access, but Brian Hicks and the rest of the team are working around the clock on stabilizing the game and adding some interesting new gameplay mechanics, such as the predatory system. They introduced the feature with a new teaser trailer.

Over on the DayZ blog they rolled out a list of new features for the latest stable build, as well as what's planned for implementation down the road. One of the features happens to be predators.

The near-two minute video footage of DayZ's upcoming predator update first depicts a pack of wolves seemingly lying around listlessly in the wild. However, we cut over to what we think is the real predator; a human. He's hunting some caribou and scouting for the killshot. However, things don't go as planned as the wolves emerge from the brush and begin to give chase to the caribou – who wisely take off for the forest thicket.

What's really interesting here is that the video doesn't just end with the wolves giving chase to the frightened quadrupedal Cerivdae. What happens is that the human hunter becomes the hunted, and finds himself being chased by the fast and wild pack of wolves. The results are cut short as the video ends with the lead wolf going in for the kill.

The video gives a short indicator of how quickly things can turn around in DayZ. It's funny because over on some of the core communities for the game the older gamers joked about the video being aimed more at those who enjoy hunting simulators as opposed to running all day from zombies.

It's true that if you have had zero experience with DayZ you would assume it was some kind of wilderness survival simulator. In a way, it is, but the core of the game relies a lot on the tension of the zombies.

Unfortunately, as producer Brian Hicks and the rest of the team have constantly made apparent in their regular updates, the transfer over to the Enfusion engine and the gutting of a lot of old engine features have put the focus on zombies on the back burner. Even still, many of the core features from the original mod for DayZ are returning, such as the focus on vehicles and vehicular repair. Bikes and motor bikes are on the table, along with new horticulture survival gear and farming.

Some gamers are still hung up on the lack of zombie hordes and the fact that the focus on DayZ hasn't been too geared toward the zombie threats. However, once the engine stabilizes and the networking aspect is all worked out, they would like to get the game to support up to 100 players per instance and allow for roaming zombie hordes. So not all hope is lost.

DayZ is currently still in Early Access and you can keep track of the game's progress through the official website.